As the Seasons Melt and Change
by sora-to-umi
Summary: A look into the evolving relationship between the spices prodigy and the medicinal herbs expert throughout the changing seasons
1. Chapter 1

Song of the chapter: Yuki no Tsubasa (Wings of Snow) by Redballoon (Gintama's ending)

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After the rebels finally defeated Azami and his dictatorship over Totsuki, Alice invited all the 92nd generations, along with Isshiki, Kinokuni, Kuga, Tsukasa and Kobayashi to her mansion in Denmark for a skiing vacation, and also as a form of celebration for their victory.

It was a huge mansion, and the plan was to divide into guys and girls' quarters for the rooms. All the guys would be placed in the rooms on the 2nd floor, and the girls on the 1st floor. However, there were a bit more girls than guys, so there wasn't enough room in the girls' quarter for all the girls. One of them has to be placed in a room in the guy's quarters on the 2nd floor.

As a result, three days before the departure, all the girls were gathering in a classroom in Totsuki to discuss about the rooms' arrangements. Alice was asking the other girls about who should be placed in the guy's quarters.

"Maybe we should draw lots just to be fair?" suggested Erina.

"No no Erina-sama, what if you got chosen as a result? I can't let you be in the same quarters as the men. They're beasts you know? Your chastity would be in danger!" protested Hisako

"Then would you volunteer yourself Hishoko-chan? It's true that among all the girls here you would be the best choice, since you mastered all your self-defense classes right?" added Alice

"Wow, Hishoko-chan knew martial arts? She didn't seem like the type." Commented Kobayashi

"I don't mind at all. If it means protecting Erina-sama's chastity and my fellow classmates, I would gladly do it! And it's not Hishoko, it's Hisako!"

"She took them in order to guard and protect Erina in case she would be attacked, which never happened though. Hishoko-chan insisted on doing them even though she wasn't obliged to." explained Alice, completely ignoring Hisako's correction.

"Are you sure, Hisako? If you volunteered to be in the 3rd floor, your room would be next to…Hayama-kun." Voiced out Erina with concern.

The reaction was instantaneous. The magenta-haired girl's face went stiff for a moment as soon as his name was mentioned, but she quickly recovered and tried to hide it under her usual calm and serious façade. This didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the girls though.

"You don't have to force yourself you know, I don't mind being placed in the guys' quarters." Calmly said Kinokuni in her usual serious voice while adjusting her glasses.

"T-thank you Kinokuni-senpai, but what Alice said is true. I think I'm the most suited person to do it, since I did obtain the black belt in aikido. I don't want to put you in that position if you're less prepared to fight back."

"Why are you guys making this so serious, geez? They may be guys, but I don't think they're as bad as animals in heat you know. We know them well enough to know that they won't jump any girl they see right?" said Ikumi

Hisako nervously looked at Ikumi's-uhm- endowments that kept bouncing up and down with her movements, thinking that she would probably be the first to be jumped by the guys, decided to convince her classmates.

"It's ok, I really don't mind, and it's not because I can't trust you girls to defend yourself, it's just that I feel more reassured if I can use my aikido skills to help you. Please don't worry, I'm going to be fine."

Erina still looked like she's not convinced, but she decided to keep her thoughts for now.

"Are you sure Hisako? I know that you've been trying to avoid Hayama-kun since that match, and his room will be right next to the one that you're supposed to stay." Said the Nakiri heiress as soon as she and Hisako separated from the others

"I'm going to be all right, Erina-sama. I can always ask Kurokiba-kun or Isshiki-senpai to switch rooms with me so I won't have to be next to him, Alice already showed me all the rooms' arrangements."

Seeing that Hisako won't budge on this matter, the Nakiri heiress sighed and complied to her friend's decision. Hisako could be really stubborn for her friends' sake sometimes, but well she would definitely be on the look out for her if anything happened.

The departing day…  
Finally, as soon as all the Totsuki's gang arrived at Alice's mansion, the albino girl gave each of them a key to their respective rooms. She gave the last key to Hisako, precising that her room was going be the farthest room at the corner on the right side, next to Kurokiba's room. Alice was able to convince her attendant to switch his usual room and take the room next to Hayama, so that Hisako won't have to be next to him. The medicinal expert was glad that Alice's meddlesome nature actually helped her out this time, despite the albino's insistence that she should stop avoiding Hayama like that.

Hisako knew that it wasn't a good idea to keep avoiding the spices prodigy forever, but she still couldn't bring herself to interact with him more than what she absolutely needed to. She wondered if it was because she didn't want to face him until she came up with a new recipe that would make him take back his words about her cooking being limited or because he had betrayed the rebels before when he accepted Azami's offer to be part of the elite ten and went to battle against Yukihira.

Sighing, she decided to put these thoughts into a corner of her mind and tried to focus on what she was doing: sorting out her clothes from the suitcase. They were going to stay there for almost a week, courtesy of Erina-sama's permission as the new headmaster of Totsuki.

A knock was then heard on her door. Hisako carefully looked through the loophole first, she has always been a more cautious person, maybe a bit too cautious at times. She recognized the orange-brownish hair of Isshiki-senpai on the other side of her door and proceeded to open it.

"Isshiki-senpai, how can I help you?"

"Nakiri-san told me that your room's heater was probably not functioning well, since her employees told her that the electrical signal from your room didn't appear as it should. I volunteered to go take a look at it, since I'm quite good at dealing with electronical stuffs, I also got another person to help who's also good at these. He's coming here in a moment."

"Oh thank you senpai, that would a great help! No wonder why I was feeling a bit cold ever since I entered the room. Please tell me if there's anything I can do to assist you."

Hisako was letting Isshiki in, just as she saw another person approaching. As the person neared them, she immediately recognized Hayama's distinctive silver hair tied in a ponytail.

"S-sorry Isshiki-senpai, I just remembered that I need to go help Erina-sama with arranging some of her schedules, I'd have to go now. I'll have someone come over to bring you tea and snacks." Stuttered the magenta-haired girl before dashing away, just as Hayama was reaching her room's door. She naively hoped that he wouldn't see her running away from him like that.

"Um, was it just me? Or did Arato-san run as soon as she saw you coming?" asked Isshiki confusedly to Hayama when he arrived, who just sighed and said:  
"You don't need to bother yourself with that Senpai, just let me help and we can finish it quickly before she has to come back."

Even if he was still confused about the interaction between the two, Isshiki kept quiet and proceeded to fix the heater inside Hisako's room with Hayama.

Hisako's avoidance of Hayama didn't stop there, Isshiki noted. He started to remark that the herbs expert was never seen near the spices expert. If both of them were in the same room for a common group activity like breakfast when everyone was gathering around the table, Hisako would always make a point to sit as far as she can from the silver-haired boy. Even though she tried to be subtle about it, it was still quite obvious to Isshiki and Kurokiba, whose rooms were situated near Hayama's and Hisako's rooms.

As for Hayama, he already realized since their match at the autumn elections that Hisako tried to avoid him like plague or like a legendary pokemon, which ever was more. It got even worse after he betrayed the Rebels. And while he didn't have any reason to be bothered more than that (it wasn't like he wanted her to like him or anything), Hayama still felt annoyed when she kept avoiding him even when the other rebels understood the reason behind his betrayal and forgave him for that. He wondered if she was still pissed of her loss against him in the autumn elections.

Maybe it was a weird after-effect of being avoided too much, but the spices prodigy started to unconsciously look out for Hisako whenever the group gathered together. It was on the second day that they were there that Alice informed them that the snow was just perfect for skiing that day. As a result, all of them geared up for skiing, excited for a Danish skiing experience.

Most of the guys were either doing snowboarding or alpine ski. Takumi was challenging Yukihira, again, to another skiing match, while Kurokiba was skiing with all his might with his bandana on. Isami was trying to calm his older brother as usual. Hayama was taking leisure strides with his snowboards, as well as Tsukasa who looked totally aloof as always. Kuga and Isshiki were kinda having a debate slash contest to see whether alpine ski or snowboarding was better. Marui and Ibusaki were quietly skiing on the side, seemingly refusing to acknowledge that they had anything to do with the other guys.

As for the girls, Kobayashi was having the time of her life skiing with at least ten people's worth of enthusiasm. Kinokuni was following her closely, as if she was making sure to keep her senpai under control. Megumi was also having fun alpine skiing with Ikumi, Yoshino and Sakaki. At one point, Kuga was so caught up with his snowboarding that he was heading straight towards the braided girl without being to stop or curved around her. Thankfully, Takumi was standing near where Megumi was and was able to tackle her out of harm's way with his quick reflexes. He then shouted at Kuga to be more careful, unaware of the blushing girl pinned beneath him. Isshiki and Kinokuni also went and scolded the Sichuan cuisine expert as if they were parents scolding their misbehaved child.

Alice and Erina were bickering as usual about the right way to use the skis, when Erina was going a tad too fast and slipped on a bundle of snow. Hisako, who was near there, immediately ran to her lady to help her get up.

"Are you okay, Erina-sama?"

"I'm fine Hisako, I just slipped a bit. O-ouch!"

"Don't try to walk on it, Erina-sama! You must have strained your ankle when you fell. You should go back to the mansion, I'll tell Alice to get one of her employees to carry you back." Said the medicine expert as she was already wrapping up her friend's right ankle with fresh bandage with a healthcare professional's precision and speed.

"What about you, Hisako?"

"I saw a comfrey plant near the mountain part where I skied earlier, it would help relieve the pain if I make it into a tisane. I'll go get it for you, Erina-sama."

"It's okay Hisako, they say that a storm will be coming soon this afternoon, don't go anywhere too far!"

"You don't have to worry! You know I can handle myself in the snow."

And it was true, Hisako was probably one of the best skiers in their group. She had went to Canada several times with her family and skied on the Rocky Mountains to find rare medicinal herbs that only grew there.  
"Still, be careful. Come back before 4, it's fine if you can't find it!"

"Roger that, just return to the mansion and take a good rest, Erina-sama!"

Time flew by quickly. Before they knew it, it was 3pm in the afternoon.

"A storm is coming soon", murmured Tsukasa looking at the clouds in the sky.

"Everyone, we should start heading back!" shouted one of Alice's house butlers via intercom to all the Totsuki's students. "A storm is coming soon around 4:30 pm"

With that, everyone started packing their equipment's and walking back to Alice's mansion.

Hayama hasn't seen Hisako since she last helped the blond Nakiri when she fell down. He has been looking out for her while snowboarding, but there was no sign of the red-haired girl rejoining the group of skiers. She wasn't among the girls group who were heading back. He decided to approach them and ask about her whereabouts.

"Arato-san? Last time I saw her she was with the Nakiri cousins maybe around 2 hours ago. Maybe they can tell you where she went." replied Megumi helpfully.

He then saw Kurokiba heading towards the returning group.

"Oi, Kurokiba, did your mistress say anything about Arato? I haven't seen her around here for a while."

"She went out to some other parts of this mountain to search for some herbs to make some medicinal drink for Nakiri, something about helping with her ankle pain." Replied the bandana-guy in his usual monotone voice and dead-fish eyes.

That uneasy feeling that Hayama has been feeling since he first noted Hisako's absence just got worse with Kurokiba's reply. He couldn't explain why, but something felt off. And his gut instinct was usually right, since his old days way back in the slums.

The silver-haired prodigy started to fasten his pace into a run, surpassing the others to get back to the mansion. He was greeted by the two Nakiri cousins in the main living room.

"What happened Hayama? You look in a hur-" inquired Alice as she took in his fastened breathing rate like he just got back from a sprint.

"Did Arato come back here since you guys last saw her?" interrupted Hayama while panting lightly.  
"No, she told me she would be back before 4…", started Erina before her face quickly paled as the realization finally dawned on her.

The silver-haired lad understood as soon as he saw the older Nakiri's expression, and quickly ran out from the mansion.

"What? What happened? Did something happen to Hishoko? Why are you guys looking so serious?" fussed Alice, who was looking between her cousin and the door where Hayama just ran off from.

"Alice! Get all your employees for a search party! We have to find Hisako before the storm! She hasn't been seen since we last talked with her!" shouted Erina.

"What! Oh my god, it's been hours and she was still outside!? I-I'll call them right away!" replied Alice, finally understanding the situation.

Just then, the rest of the Totsuki students arrived in the main living room. They were quickly briefed by Alice with what was going on, while trying to restrain Erina who was forcing herself to stand up claiming to want to go outside and help search for Hisako.

"Calm down, Nakiri-san. It's too dangerous for you girls to come out when the storm is approaching soon. We will try to go out and help search for Arato-san, you girls will stay here." Calmly said Isshiki, with a leader's aura all over him.

"Isshiki-senpai's right. And you would only slow us down with that ankle Nakiri." Added Yukihira

Erina was going to say something back, but she decided to let it slide because she was more worried for her best friend at this point.

"Search near the eastern parts of the mountains, Hisako told me that she wanted to get an herb around those areas earlier." Supplied the Nakiri heiress.

"Wait, where's Hayama?" asked Yukihira.

"He was the first to notice Hishoko's absence, and was already outside looking for her now." Replied Alice

With that, all the 92nd guys along with Isshiki, Tsukasa, and Kuga sprinted out of the mansion, leaving the girls behind.

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Please read and review :) It's my first work for this fandom so I really hope to hear your opinions!


	2. Chapter 2

Song of the chapter: Yuki no Hana (Snow Flower) by Mika Nakashima (RELife's ending)

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Some hours ago…

Hisako was skiing around in hope of finding the comfrey plant. This plant would help both Erina-sama for her ligament injuries, as well as Tadoroko-san who was complaining of sore throat and sensible gum. Time was flying by too fast and it was nearly 3:50. She would have to go back soon so that Erina-sama wouldn't worry. She tried to go around the area one last time, and just when she was going to give up and turn back, the medicine expert saw the distinctive purple bell flowers of comfrey. They were growing on the edge of the mountain cliff. She made sure to approach it carefully and paid extra attention while advancing.

However, just as she was reaching out to the lushing green leaves, she misplaced her foot into a hole covered by the thick snow, slashed part of her left calf in the process and was going to fall off the edge. With a rush of adrenaline, Hisako caught a tree vine near there, and held onto them for dear life. With that grip, she attempted to set a footing and tried to crawl back up. She succeeded but landed roughly on her side and she was now lying on her stomach, surrounded by a good 10 cms of snow and being barely able to move.

Her body shivered, and her breath bounced inside of her lungs sharply. The icy cold ate at her skin with small pinches, until she eventually became numb. Staggering across the frozen field, the not-so-warm-anymore blood froze on her wound, at least preventing her from bleeding to death.

The loss of feeling and dead nerves made it difficult to balance, but she kept trudging through the steep snow. It was only a matter of time before she could no longer move anything-she had already become paralyzed in her arms-and would collapse into the white blanket.

Her teeth chattered, and her dry tongue swept across them, noticing how much colder they were than anything else. Hisako attempted to lick her severely chapped lips, but ended up having to fight to get her tongue to unattach from her lip. "Hnn..." A shiver ran down her spine in ripples, and she couldn't even use her hands to rub her arms for friction.  
It wasn't long before her lips were so blue and her skin was so pale that someone-if someone was actually there-would mistake her for a mannequin doll. Her breath finally hitched in her all-too-dry throat, and her feet stopped moving, against her will. "N...no..." she pleaded in a raspy voice. It seemed to take forever when her legs started bending, and she fell once again into the powdery white slush.

Her eyes started to flutter closed, despite Hisako's desperation to stay awake. As a familiar with medical knowledge, she knew that her chance of staying alive would decrease tremendously if she fell asleep now. As her mind was switching back and forth on the verge of consciousness, the last thing she thought about before seeing darkness was how the whiteness of the snow reminded her of that guy's hair.

* * *

Meanwhile, with the guys…

"Alright so Yukihira, Kurokiba and Ibusaki can go in one group to search in the eastern area, Tsukasa-senpai, Marui and Kuga will search in the northern area; the Aldini brothers and myself will look at the western area. Nakiri-san's employees will take care of the southern area." Instructed Isshiki while showing them the rough map of the mountains. "The Yukihira group will try to help Hayama searching for Arato-san if you meet him in that area. Remember that we don't have enough time before the storm will hit the hardest, be careful during your search. We will meet up here once again no matter the results in 20 minutes. Be careful everyone."

The others wasted no time to get into their snowmobiles and sprinted out. Hayama already took one of the snowmobiles when they came to the warehouse where they were kept. The search teams tried to look for Hisako's distinct red hair amid the white snow. The wind kept getting stronger and the sun was setting down pretty quickly, taking it with it the precious light source that assisted with their search.  
Isshiki was a bit surprised at how Hayama was the first to notice Hisako's absence. Something was definitely going between them. He sincerely hoped that their team will be able to find the two of them.

Yukihira and Kurokiba were trying to look out for Hayama as well as Arato, as they knew how reckless both of them could be.  
"Stay safe, you two! Don't you dare do anything rash, Hayama." Thought Yukihira.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the eastern part of the mountain…

Despite going around this part of the mountain since 30 minutes ago, the spices prodigy still couldn't find any signs of his former opponent. If she was to see how desperate he looked right now, the medicinal cooking expert would probably laugh at him. His snowmobile just had to break down halfway, and Hayama wasted no time to kick it aside and kept going to look for the red-haired girl on foot.

"Calm down Akira, think! If she was going to pick the comfrey leaves, she would most probably be on this side. Please let me find her before it's too late."  
His pleas were finally answered as he finally glimpsed a mob of red near the edge of the mountain, the only color in the field besides white.  
Hayama wasted no time and rushed over in that direction. Stopping short, he glanced down to the ground. It was only a few locks of magenta red hair, but it was enough confirmation for him. Pushing his arm into the deep snow, he felt her form. Feeling the steel-cold sensation of her skin, he wrapped his fingers around her wrist and yanked her body up.

An involuntary yelp came unconsciously from her throat at the pain of his yank.  
"Arato! Arato! Wake up!"  
"Ara-Hisako!"

He laid her flat on her back to check for her wounds. The red ice glued to her calf indicated a deep cut. His eyes glanced back to the rest of her body. She didn't seem to have any other wounds anywhere else. Cellphones were useless this deep into the mountain, and Hayama didn't see any signs of the others coming near where he was.

Placing a hand on her forehead, he noticed it was scolding hot. The shiver of her body made him think twice about waiting to move her. Arato Hisako may not like him and they may not have the best first interaction with each other, but he wouldn't let her die in a place like this before being able to explain himself to her properly.

Hayama grounded his teeth together and furrowed his eyebrows at how there didn't seem to be any housing in the near vicinity. He took note of the fact that her skin was now a tinged purple, and he placed two fingers against her neck. The slow pulsation worried him, and the girl showed no signs of waking up despite his shaking. Hayama knew that she won't make it if she fell asleep at that moment. There was no time to find some heating waiting for her to wake up, so he did the only thing he thought possible to wake her up.

He kissed her.

He kept on doing mouth to mouth, alternating with shaking her and slightly slapped at her frozen cheeks, in hope that the pain will help her wake up.

W-where am I? How long was I out?  
Ah, I remember now, I was trying to get the comfrey leaves for Erina-sama and Tadokoro-san, but I lost my footing and nearly fell down the cliff.  
It's cold. I can't see anything. The house should be there. No there… no way. I got lost..  
I can't feel anything now. I can't move. Am I dying?

No, I don't wanna die. I have a dream. Graduate from medical school, develop my own medicinal cookbook, help Erina-sama managing the Totsuki Academy, travel around the world, and-and… show that guy that my cooking is not limited at all…

Then the snow-filled scenery suddenly changed, and Hisako found herself standing in front of an altar at the church, wearing a white wedding gown.

"You're going to get married today", announced the priest.

"Wait, what? I'm getting married? Who's my husband?"

Then as if on cue, a guy in a black suit whose face she couldn't see well approached Hisako, and put both his hands on her cheeks and proceeded to kiss her.

"Hey, I can't see your face well. Hey stop it." Cried Hisako while trying to make sense of all this, being kissed and married to some strange guy whose face she couldn't even see. She tried to push him back, but the guy kept on kissing her deeply.

"I said stop it!" Shouted Hisako with her eyes now wide open. The first things she saw was a pair of emerald eyes.

"Good, you've woken up. I thought I was too late." Said a deep husky voice which Hisako's fuzzy brain finally supplied to her that it was none other than the guy she was desperately trying to avoid these last few days.

"H-Hayama…? H-how…W-Why are you here?" croaked out the red-haired girl, flinching when her voice sounded even raspier than she expected.

"You must have fell and lost consciousness here for the last two hours. A storm is coming soon so let's find some shelter, can you stand up?"

"I can try." But her pained expression betrayed her.  
Hayama wasted no time when he saw that. Picking her up, one hand under her knees and one under her shoulders, he turned around and was already searching for some sort of shelter.  
"Hey! Wait!"

"We don't have enough time. The mansion is 2 km away. We have to spend the night here. Let's try to find a place to stay before you die from hypothermia." Explained Hayama matter-of-factly, but Hisako could still sense a tint of worry in his voice.


End file.
